(rshsdepot) Schenectady, NY

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Times Union.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 
 
Station to Evoke the Past: Proposed Facility's Design Finalist  Includes 
Details Inspired By City's Former Union Station
 
Times Union, 2007-05-17
 
By Cathy Woodruff, Albany Times Union, N.Y.
 
May 17--SCHENECTADY -- Prospective makeover plans for the  city's downtown 
train station have been narrowed to one finalist with  architectural details 
reminiscent of Schenectady's former Union Station.  
The public gets a chance to comment at a meeting at 6:30 tonight at College  
Park Hall on Nott Street, the site of the former Ramada Inn.  
The proposed final design is being presented by a consortium that includes  
the Capital District Transportation Authority, Schenectady County and the  
Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority.  
The public first weighed in on several preliminary plans at a meeting last  
November.  
"Some of the comments were right on target" in telling design consultants  
with what they needed to know to move forward, said Jim Cartin, project manager  
for the Schenectady station project. "They wanted something that would touch 
on  the past but that also pointed to the future."  
The proposed design would expand the station and give it a grander presence  
with architectural details intended to evoke some sense of the city's old 
Union  Station, which was torn down in the early 1970s and replaced with a squat,  
uninspired building that sits beneath the tracks.  
"It is, in some sense I think, modeled after the old station," Cartin said.  
The new station design includes tall, arched windows to let in lots of  
daylight. The interior floor space will grow to 7,100 square feet from the  current 
5,000, and the facade is envisioned as a light stone or other masonry.  
The main station entrance would still face Erie Boulevard, but a long,  
6,200-square-foot annex including a newsstand, cafe and space for farmers'  market 
stalls would stretch south to State Street, where CDTA's busiest bus  route 
passes by and a major bus stop between Erie Boulevard and Broadway is just  
steps away.  
The alignment permits the complex to function as a multi-modal transportation 
 hub, which could take on added significance as CDTA continues to develop 
plans  for a designated Bus Rapid Transit corridor along Route 5.  
"Having a centralized location where people can use public transportation is  
greatly needed in this community," said Schenectady County Legislature  
Chairwoman Susan Savage.  
But previous multi-modal station ideas floated in Schenectady, some priced as 
 high as $30 million, were too expensive to be practical, she said.  
"This is our chance to get this project done the right way," said Savage.  
Cartin said the total estimated cost of this project is around $11 million,  
but that could change depending on factors that include continuing engineering 
 studies of deteriorated station areas that sit below the railroad tracks, 
where  poor drainage has led to extensive and unsightly rust and corrosion.  
Ownership of the main train station is expected to remain with Amtrak, but  
the portion of the building facing State Street would likely combine public  
ownership with private tenants leasing space.  
The region's Transportation Improvement Plan, or TIP, which provides a  
blueprint for distributing federal and other public transportation funding in  
coming years allocates $6.8 million for the new station, including up to $3.6  
million in federal money.  
Other public funding for the project could come via local or state  
government, the Metroplex Authority or some combination of those.  
Cartin said other design ideas presented at November's public meeting,  
including one that lacked the link to State Street and one that moved the main  
structure to State Street, were winnowed out as a result of the public input.  
The original architectural concepts included one with a contemporary  
glass-sided look and one with a historic-style design that resembled an  
old-fashioned locomotive shed.  
He said the public response to those ideas was cooler, perhaps because they  
were viewed as too modernistic or too industrial in their look.  
The station is within a few blocks of two particularly elegant city buildings 
 on the National Register of Historic Places: City Hall, an example of late  
Georgian Revival style architecture with a Federal style cupola, and the  
Schenectady post office.  
The lead architect on the new station design is Philadelphia-based Kise,  
Straw and Kolodner, which is working locally with Creighton Manning. A $1.1  
million federal grant secured by U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty, D-Green Island, is  
funding design work, early repairs and public outreach.  
Once a design is final, Cartin said environmental impact assessments can be  
conducted this summer. The first phase of the project is likely to include  
repairs in the infrastructure below the tracks, he said.  
Woodruff can be reached at 454-5093 or by e-mail at cwoodruff_@_timesunion.com. 




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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1545
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
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